As sustainability and climate change emerge as a critical global issues , each key area of sustainability is being addressed in international agreements and regulations. Sustainability is becoming a key consideration in investor interests, consumer and customer expectations, and employee interests. People want to work with, invest in, and be employed by brands that consider sustainability a key part of their overall business strategy. There are 3 key focus areas of sustainability;

An ESG sustainability business strategy helps to address all of the pillars of sustainability, showcasing an organisation’s ability to value growth while also considering the implication’s of its actions on the future. ESG is a fast moving and evolving topic which touches upon many different area’s of a business. Winterhawk helps organisations to identify gaps in their Controls, and Policies. Providing them with the solutions to manage their frameworks, initiatives and metrics.

Regulators and Key Reporting Standards

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) attempts to unite different approaches on sustainability disclosure, it contains some of the most widely used global standard- setting approaches. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is principal regulator of the public markets in the United States and has taken a leading role in spearheading ESG disclosures and related enforcement. Both the SEC and the ISSB build on the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) where Investors want to compare the disclosures not just between U.S. listed companies, but globally.

What are the key frameworks?

The GRI Standards enable any organization –private or public – to understand and report on their impacts on the economy, environment and people in a comparable and credible way, thereby increasing transparency on their contribution to sustainable development.

CDP is a not-for-profit charity that runs the global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts.

The Financial Stability Board created the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) to improve and increase reporting of climate-related financial information.

World Economic Forum (WEF) is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) SASB Standards guide the disclosure of financially material sustainability information by companies to their investors.

ESG Ratings

The biggest ESG rating providers are considered to be MSCI and Sustainalytics, mainly due to their wide coverage. Bloomberg, and Refinitiv (formerly Thomson Reuters) as well as credit ratings agencies such as Moody’s, S&P and Fitch also provide ESG ratings.

How important are ESG Ratings for a listed company ?

According to analysis from Broadridge Financial Solutions they estimate that ESG assets will reach $30 trillion by 2030

“Most businesses are demonstrating awareness through some level of tangible action, and we are seeing a significant uplift in carbon projects as well as a commitment to reducing – with a view to eradicating – carbon from business operations. Enquiries are also notably deriving from the top, indicative of C-suite interest in climate commitments and the route to practicing good ESG.”

Lyndon Gill, Winterhawk ESG Specialist

Winterhawk Helping Organisations Navigate ESG

Our services are designed to support ESG initiatives and driven long term performance improvements.

Solutions: Deliver enterprise-wide solutions for the execution, ongoing management and monitoring of ESG programs
Reporting: Manage, measure and be able to respond and pivot to change
Strategy: Support sustainability and resilience projects and portfolios
Climate: Appreciate the impact and understand vulnerabilities. Reduce carbon footprint.
Brand, Reputation & Investment: Align business to long term value creation

Considerations

ESG Program development
ESMS Development
Materiality Assessments
Corporate / Peer Benchmarking
Risk Management / Reduction
Resource Planning / Circular Economy
Sustainability Reporting
(GRI, SASB etc.)
Data Privacy, Risks, Standards, Policies, Cybersecurity, GRC
Deployments, Content, Support and Managed Services
Climate Disclosure (CDP, TCFD etc.)
ESG Performance metrics
Climate Risk, Resilience & Adoption
Carbon Management
Lifecycle analysis
Climate change mitigation
Development of Decarbonization strategies
ESG due diligence
Finance / Investment decision making
Derisking of supply chains
Investment and asset optimization

How to measure ESG success?

ESG Ratings – Increasing
Share Price – Rising
Shareholder Confidence – Growing
Client Confidence – Growing
Partner Confidence – Growing
Employees – Retained
New Talent – Attracted
Brand Value / Reputation – High
Top line Growth / Returns – Increased
Productivity – Uplifted
Investment & Asset – Optimized
Costs (equity, debt, capital) – Reduced
Regulatory Failures and Risks – Reduced
Peer Bench marking – Exceeding

SAP ESG Solutions

We’ve market in Green in the chart below the various ESG solutions which are available from SAP which Winterhawk deploy and support.

If you are at the beginning of your organizations ESG journey, we would typically recommend SAP Risk and Assurance Management (RAM) as a low cost entry point offering fast ROI. See the Solution details here.

Get in touch

Contact Winterhawk to schedule a free ESG consultation.